Bitcoin Couture Makes Its Debut at New York Fashion Week

While New York Stock Exchange traders were grappling with a market in freefall, elsewhere in the city this week all eyes were on more important matters. New York Fashion Week officially starts today (February 8), and at a pre-show on Tuesday, the latest haute couture and avant-garde designs were on display. Seeking to tap into the zeitgeist, Ovadia & Sons’ catwalk show featured a model rocking a bitcoin-themed outfit.

From the Blockchain to the Catwalk

Bitcoin has been popping up in the unlikeliest of places recently, from Kentucky Fried Chicken to the catwalk. In an era in which everything is placed on the blockchain and “blockchain” is being placed in front of everything, it was inevitable that the crypto craze would be picked up by fashionistas sooner or later. Bitcoin has long since made the mainstream, but this is believed to be the first time it’s made the catwalk.

Fashion designers are notorious for tapping into whatever trends are en vogue, often commandeering movements and themes with little sensitivity or understanding of the underlying issues. Not that it’s necessary to comprehend distributed ledger technology to slap a bitcoin logo on a silk shirt of course; all that’s required is for a certain motif to be hot, and right now bitcoin ticks all the right boxes.

Ariel and Shimon Ovadia’s coda to NYFW saw them draw their inspiration from punk, Silicon Valley, and crypto. A collection of 35 men’s pieces was showcased, with the highlight – for bitcoiners at least – being a natty green shirt paired with a faux sailor’s cap. “Bitcoin accepted – No cash” ran the slogan on the side of the shirt. Judging by the haunted look in the model’s eyes as he traipsed down the catwalk, he was holding some very heavy crypto bags.

Many of the pieces exhibited at events such as New York Fashion Week are haute couture that’s destined never to make it to the high street. Thus, the prospects of snapping up Ovadia & Sons’ bitcoin shirt – and of being able to pay for it in bitcoin (no cash) – seem remote. Still, should any self-styled fashionistas fancy replicating the look, it’s nothing that couldn’t be whipped up in five minutes with the aid of a gaudy green shirt and an iron-on bitcoin logo.

Would you wear the bitcoin outfit paraded at New York Fashion Week? Let us know in the comments section below.